September 23, 2015

"She had never known what she had been missing. She had never known how it was supposed to be." ~ pg. 48

Jane Green is a household name. Whether you are a chick lit fan, women's fiction reader or prefer contemporary written works, you have seen or heard of author Jane Green. I have only read a couple of her bestsellers but fell in heart with the cover of her newest release, Summer Secrets. Based on first impressions only, I downloaded the eBook and purposely started reading at the end of this summer.

Cat lived it up in London in her 20s: great job, great friends, partied hard and wreaked havoc. She finds the father she never knew she had but it jeopardizes the new family she craves. Now in her late 30s, Cat is sober, divorced, building on the relationship with her teenage daughter and making amends for her past. But that one summer night can—and will—change her life forever.

Summer Secrets is a literary example of two clichés: your past will come back to haunt you. What happens in the dark comes out in the light. It also has one central theme: addiction. Whether you know an alcoholic or not, you will gain a new understanding of addiction from reading Cat's story.

September 20, 2015

(To Kill a Mockingbird #2)

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

Read an installment of a series.

Share your review/recommendation below.

Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is Go Set a Watchman, the follow-up to classic book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise "Scout" Finch makes her fifth annual trip home to Maycomb, Alabama. Her father, Atticus Finch, is 72 years old now. Her homecoming turns bittersweet when she finds out disturbing secrets about her family and the town. Through flashbacks to her childhood, Scout's memories are compared with her current values.

I drank the pop. I couldn't help but to read Go Set a Watchman, the novel that so many critics gave bad reviews on. However, I waited until the hype died down a bit and until I was finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I was curious whether this new novel—that wasn't meant to be published—would tarnish the classic reputation of Harper Lee's first novel. Especially for those people that named children after Atticus. (You deserve ALL the side-eyes o_O)

"You know good and well if I walked in church today with a hat on they'd think somebody was dead." ~ pg. 65

Le sigh. Go Set a Watchman barely passed my 50-page Rule. I only continued reading for the sake of curiosity though I determined early on that majority of the bad reviews were right. If this was about her estate taking advantage of her old age and wanting money, then I wish an anniversary or special signed edition of TKAM was released instead. I don't think it is a coincidence GSAW is found and published in the middle of the #BlackLivesMatter movement or nationwide race debates. If anything, GSAW was a literary reminder of how far we haven't come. It is not much difference in how blacks are treated now in 2015 than in 1960 when TKAM was first published. It is definitely not surprising to read that Atticus Finch fought for equality and justice in public but was perceived as a closet racist to some, granted he gave an explanation as to why he attended Ku Klux Klan meetings in this new unnecessarily published novel. (Roll your eyes here.)

It was a reason Harper Lee's editor rejected Go Set a Watchman when the manuscript was first presented. Too bad it conveniently reappeared.

September 13, 2015

(To Kill a Mockingbird #1)

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

Read an installment of a series.

Share your review/recommendation below.

Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is To Kill a Mockingbird, the classic book by Harper Lee. The story goes a little something like this: a lawyer, Atticus Finch, defends a black man charged with raping a white girl in the South of the 1930s. It is told from the point of view of his young daughter, Scout. It appears that Atticus has a distaste for the justice system and criminal law practice in Maycomb County, Alabama.

I first read TKAM in middle school then "again" in high school. Although in high school, I didn't really re-read it in its entirety but was lazy and read the CliffNotes. There were far more other fiction books I rather have read than to re-read a "boring but good message" classic novel. I remembered the gist of the story but not deets so I decided to re-read the classic immediately before reading the new novel released by Harper Lee. In lieu of a review, I will share my live tweets (in bold) inspired by quotes from the novel as I re-read.

@LiteraryMarie

I'm starting this novel backward. I want to hear Cicely Tyson read chapter one via audio eBook then watch videos of Oprah and others' reaction to this classic.

Maycomb was a tired old town. No wonder Atticus had a distaste for the practice of criminal law.
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." ~ pg. 2Versus a sin to wrongly accuse and convict an innocent man. Versus a sin to purposely discriminate. Versus a sin to not treat all wo(men) equal.

Clearly the Radley's don't want visitors on Sundays.

The Radley's house is the one you walk across the street to pass. But there's always that one little boy that is mischievious (Dill).

Boo Radley is that one creepy neighbor on the street that no one ever sees. Yet his height (6'5") is exaggerated and he eats raw animals.

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." ~ pg. 16Oh, Scout. If you only understood the kind of love and appreciation you'll gain from reading.

"Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets." ~ pg. 38 Oh? Not according to negative reviews of Go Set a Watchman.

So it's okay for Atticus to let his two kids (Scout and Jem) run wild but it's his being a "nigger lover" that shames the Finch family.

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy." ~ pg. 71

There really weren't any tunes or music mentioned otherwise. Hmmm...

"Way back about nineteen-twenty there was a Klan, but it was a political organization more than anything. The Ku Klux's gone. It'll never come back." ~ pg. 113

Famous last words from Atticus. Is this the same Klan that he supposedly attended a meeting for in Go Set a Watchman?

"It takes a woman to do that kind of work." ~ pg. 104

"So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses, didn't it?" ~ pg. 122

Scout was not over-exposed to the ways of the Deep South. I liked how Atticus didn't keep her sheltered and gave advice or explanations throughout the book to his kids. More parents should treat their children with the same intellectual respect.

"In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life." ~ pg. 170

When Tom stands in courtroom and you learn of his handicap...I already doubted Ewell's testimony but that is the moment it became so clear.Ah, the mad dog madness chapter. Atticus wasted no time shooting when it was coming his way threatening his family. This is symbolic of how he handled justice in court.

September 9, 2015

I can easily separate the artist from the music. But for some reason, it is not so easy to do with authors. Have you ever stopped reading an author's books because of something he/she did in real life? Did an author's personal life antics turn you off?

September 6, 2015

(Naughty or Nice Sequel)

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

Read an installment of a series.

Share your review/recommendation below.

Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is Naughtier Than Nice, the sequel to Naughty or Nice by Eric Jerome Dickey. The McBroom sisters are back in this hot sequel set during the Christmas holiday. This romantic adventure picks up almost right after the first book ends but it is no longer a fairy tale. Frankie is being stalked after breaking up with her already-married boyfriend. Tommie's relationship with Blue isn't perfect and Livvy can't get over her husband's affair.

"I'd entered into a relationship in trust and had exited on the back of a lie."
All three of the sisters remain close but are keeping secrets from each other. Ex-con Driver makes an appearance to help Frankie out of a dangerous jam that she wouldn't dare ask her sisters for help. To the outside world, Tommie and Blue have the perfect relationship but secretly Tommie is attracted to another man. Livvy is still scarred by Tony's affair so she only has sex with him under the condition it must be a threesome. Clearly these sisters are more naughtier than nice.

Umpteen books later and it still impresses me how EJD can write so well in a woman's point of view. These sisters were going through some things thangs and he captured the right reactions. He accurately described why a black woman changes her hair, how she wants to change her life, her demand for respect, her happiness and mental hurricanes. *slow clap* Well done, Dickey."When a woman doesn't feel valued, it makes her susceptible to the charms of other men. A woman would engage in a short sale and change neighborhoods in hopes of gaining a sense of community."

EJD bookhearts, mark your calendar for October 27, 2015, when this hot sequel is expected to be published. I recommend reading Naughty or Nice if you haven't already to get the background stories. There are pop culture and police brutality references that relate this fiction to real life. Meanwhile, the McBroom sisters are a trip and a half! It is definitely a book you will enjoy.DISCLAIMER: This book was received directly from the publisher for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

September 1, 2015

I am a MAYJAH fan of best-selling author Jen Hatmaker's Bible Study books. They are catered to the modern woman, have reasonable lesson plans and introduce me to new views about scriptures. I often turn to her books when I need ideas for spiritual journaling. So when I saw an ARC of her new release available, I immediately downloaded to my NOOK.

"Maybe your best thing won't draw a paycheck, but it is how you shine and glow and come to life and bless the world."

In Hatmaker's fun and humorous style, For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards is true to the title. Grace is how to deal with life's biggest challenge: people. Our joys, struggles, pains, heartbreaks and thrills come from people. Our lessons are learned from situations with people. Fear or courage affects people. Any judgmental or competitive nature can be helped. People (we) are God's image bearers. Hatmaker tells truth in a hilarious way. Her advice can be taken literally and guess what? It works! There are chapters on thank you notes, social networking, leggings-as-pants, saying no, reaping benefits and crappy Christians.

I judge a book by the amount of notes, bookmarks and highlights I have by the end. Surprise, surprise—For the Love didn't have as many notes as I expect from a Hatmaker book. I was a bit disappointed when I finished that there weren't a lot of paragraphs or quotes to go back and review. Nonetheless, I still recommend For the Love. For bookhearts unfamiliar to this author, please do not let this book discourage you from reading her Bible study series. For the bookhearts that are already fans of Hatmaker, you will get her same wisdom, humor, honesty and show of faith with this new release. And I challenge all of you to purchase this book as a gift to someone.

DISCLAIMER: This book was received directly from the publisher for review purposes only. In no way does it influence my review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.